It took less than an hour to examine Tally’s subconscious once Uffago and Nima came down—more introductions—and they let him rejoin the others before went more slowly.

“We’ll want to go over it again tomorrow,” Uffago said. “You’ll want to join us around 1, Miara?”

“Yeah. Or earlier, I’m not going to be able to sleep for a while until this is more settled.”

“You have more remnants than he does,” Nima said.

“Because I’m me, or because I wasn’t dead?”

“Maybe both. Who knows,” Uffago said.

“Anything useful?” Guyver asked.

“We’ll see,” Uffago said. “I think Miara’s experience will prove more useful, but we’re going to re-examine tomorrow, when we’ve had time to process.”

The rest of them looked at her, and she shrugged.

“We need to rest,” Uffago said. “We can take Alta with us, if you’d like.”

“No, I’d rather she stayed here,” Eiry said.

“I’ll bring her up if needed,” Guyver said.

“Can…can I stay?” Nima asked. “I won’t sleep either.”

“We do need to give serious attention to this as the seminar members.”

“Alright…”

“There’ll be plenty of time later,” Miara said.

Nima went up first, but Uffago paused a moment.

“What?” Miara asked.

“It’s become important,” he said, and headed up after Nima.

“What does he mean?” Nanette said.

But it was Eiry who got to the point. “You’ve been hell-bent on keeping busy, pushing your training, and having fun. Have you been avoiding something?”

“Well, look what happened to her,” Guyver said.

“So…you fell through time and moved forward ten years? And the “version” of you that still went the slow way was here most of that time and is now back in her local time. And you are staying here,
is that correct?”

“As in this time period, yes. But Eiry’s right—there’s something else.”

“You must miss your family and friends there,” Nanette said, looking at Tally.

“Yes. But,” she said, sitting down for the first time.

“Take your time, Sis,” Guyver said. “We got you.”

That got a smile. “My memories of you three are strong, you know.”

“Huh?”

“Sush, let her talk,” Eiry said.

“Since you’re here,” Miara said to Tally, “it’s possible the strength of that is on purpose. Some memories are vague, but you guys and my personal history are not. I’ve never questioned
who I am since coming here, just where I’m going now—this is certainly shedding some answers on that. Anyway, I have clear memories of you three, and of having a mother-child bond. But
there isn’t one now.”

“But…how?” Sali asked. “Those don’t just disappear.”

“I think I’m a clone,” Miara said. “If I’m simply a product of a fork in the path, I think it would still be there. And since someone has clearly done this, there may have been a choice, depending
on the tech used. If that’s the case, they chose not to include it. They probably thought it would be better—easier in our terms.”

There was silence for a while, all of them looking at each other.

“So, if Tally’s needed, and I’m needed…” she went on, looking at Eiry.

“What?”

“You’re most affected,” Guyver said.

“But why?” Tally asked. “What for?”

“It can’t be just for my benefit.”

“And you and Guyver are still together. The easiest way to preserve that is make sure the established timeline stays in place rather than chancing it will change. So Tally still had to die…You,
Guyver, Tally, me.”